Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by CalgaryFMC:

Some sort of self-described top secret hop experiment, which must mean that there's some experimental cones in here, numbers rather than names type shit. I'm down. Accordingly, this review should be considered classified material. A golden honey amber color with the expected copious quantity of creamy Phillips head (hmmm ...), I can confirm that the aroma here does indeed differ from Hopcircle and the like, very finely herbal rather than citrusy and dank. The malts are down there in the mix, largely crackery with a touch of caramel, and the herbal nose translates well onto the palate, essential oils that recall mint and oregano, very mellow at first (especially when one is retrieving gustatory memories of other west coast IPAs for comparison purposes) but building and becoming more resinous and tea-like over time. There are some fruit flavors as well, lemon and grape as opposed to the more typical grapefruit and tangerine. Uber-crisp and clean bitterness, unencumbered by much malt richness, an effect accentuated by the thinnish body and high carbonation. I am tempted to compare it to a so-called session IPA (or ISA) albeit with the full complement of booze on board. Worth buying a Phillips hoppy mixed pack to taste this, at least if you are a diehard.

More User Reviews:

341ml single bottle, a refugee from the current Phillips mixed hop pack, from my favorite destination for such things in YEG. A few details were omitted for the name for this offering, in the effort of conciseness. Apparently, there is a secret hop experiment lab operated somewhere by this brewery - big fucking surprise.

This beer pours a hazy, pale golden amber colour, with a fistful of puffy, yet tightly foamy, and bubbly ecru head, which leaves some decent swaths of bushy webbed lace around parts of the glass as it slowly sinks into oblivion.

It smells of musty, almost funky pine resin and edgy leafy hop esters straight off, astringent citrus pith bitters, lightly doughy pale malt, and further floral, somewhat perfumed hop notes - the slightly elevated ABV maybe having something to do with that. The taste is acrid pine needle and muddled citrus rind bitterness, for the most part, over a kind of cowering dry grainy malt, er 'sweetness', a bit of stony flintiness, and further leafy, earthy, and yet again, perfumed hop esters - consistency, a strong point here.

The carbonation is rather involved, and yet renders as a simple frothiness, the body an adequate medium weight, and actually quite smooth, for some inexplicable reason. It finishes on the dry side, that punchy hoppiness stepping back on the gas after its moment of reverie, as the inherent malt maintains no such fecundity.

A pretty hop-oriented, bitter version of well, Imma gonna say, the Hop Circle, but with more outright elan, and singular character than that particular ode to the IPA middle ground. Peppy, unapologetic, and worthy of me slamming a few of these, in obliviousness, and in ode to my geeky palate. That's not about to happen right now, duh, but we can always hope for lab experiments such as this to bear further ample fruit in the near future, can't we?